Resources for consecutive interpreting training?

[Torsten]

Hi,

Could anyone please suggest resources, techniques and tools that help practice one's consecutive interpreting skills? I'm particularly interested in interpreting agricultural presentations from English to German and vice versa.

Many thanks,
Torsten

TOEIC short conversations: Paying the fitness membership fee

[Conchita]

Taking every opportunity to interpret or translate is very good, effective practice, in my experience. This can be done mentally (e.g. if we are in a public place) or aloud. Radio or television alone provide plenty of material on which to work.

It can even be an excellent remedy against boredom -- and makes for a good way to remember a tedious speech (or part of it), for instance!

I often catch myself doing it automatically with dubbed films (and I suspect it has developed into some kind of tic), which is much less challenging than trying to translate, say, a TV news report.

[Torsten]

Hi Conchita,

Thanks a lot for your speedy response. Your suggestions make perfect sense. Could you please tell me which direction you usually translate films and TV shows mentally? English into Spanish or Spanish into English? Or even Spanish into German/French. A polyglot like is probably capable of such magic?

TOEIC short conversations: Contacting the computer help desk

[Conchita]

Hardly ever into Spanish or French, curiously -- perhaps because I need to work less on these languages. Most of my interpretation practice is done from Spanish into English. Sometimes into German, too, but I have to confess that this one is being somewhat neglected these days. :oops:

[Torsten]

Hi everybody,

Just a quick note to let you know we've done the deed! Last Saturday there was a conference organized by a company called Bioaktiv GmbH and Bruce interpreted the presentations. It was a great experience and quite different from teaching English because you constantly had to switch between languages. I was very glad that Bruce did a lot of the German to English interpretation -- the conference started at 9 am and lasted until 8 pm. What also helped was the fact that a couple of weeks prior to the event I had translated some of the PowerPoint presentations the speakers were using at the conference and I could use the word list I had created to prepare for the job.

TOEFL listening discussions: Where does this conversation most likely take place?

[Bruce]

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Greetings Torsten,
Thanks for the re-introduction. I guess this is a appropriate time to
re-join the Forum and the various discussions. We?ve spoken about
this a few times before but because of my movements I have never
really found the right time to make a regular commitment.
After meeting with Alan Townend and his talented wife Sylvia at your
guest dinner in Leipzig followed by our Interpreter teamwork for the
Bioaktiv company annual seminar, with international business partners,
I guess I have no more excuses. I must not forget to mention Slava,
Maria and Natasha were also at your guest dinner.
After all working with you and the Website is actually a lot of fun
and I think I must be crazy to keep putting it off.
So here I am, and here we are again.
Also Greetings to all members who I wrote to on the Forum before I
had to break off suddenly three years ago.
Some, I am sure, are still there, others may have moved on in their
careers. Back then I spoke about our up coming Cross-Cultural Forum,
so I guess it would be appropriate to start some topics there, as well as
the most popular "What would you like to talk about" Forum.
I look forward to answering many questions from our worldwide audience.
Best Wishes, Bruce.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
_________________
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[Torsten]

Hi Bruce,

It's great to have you back on the forum and also to be able to work with you again "in real life". Yes, the Bioaktiv conference was a unique opportunity for me to practice and test my interpreting skills and I think the two of us did an excellent "tandem job". Ever since we started the forum in 2003 I have spend quite a lot of time here and of course I have come to meet a lot of wonderful people. However, only a few of our forum members have I met in person so far and you are one of them.

Anyway, what's going on with you over there in Zeitz? I know that you have been teaching English to a group of medical assistants -- how have they been getting along? What kind of terminology do they have to learn and where are they going to learn once they finish their course?

Speak to you soon,
Torsten

TOEFL listening discussions: Why does the young man have grapes for lunch?

[Bruce]

Hi Torsten,
Yes, well the medical students I am teaching are doing three main types of
apprenticeship. I?ll try and translate them correctly from German into English.
The first are - Ergotherapists (Ergotherapeuten),
the second - Healing Rehabilitation Care Assistants (Heil Erziehungs Pfleger)
and finally - Care Assistants for the Elderly (Altenpfleger).
I guess you could also call them Care Attendants or Care Nurses.
Anyway, their use of English is basic and mostly orientates around Vocabulary and typical expressions at the Hospital, Clinic, Doctors Surgery etc. I have introduced some of my own ideas which create - what I think - is an interesting background and valuable knowledge for the students.
I have introduced the work of Dr.Elisabeth K?bler-Ross who is famous for her work with Death & the Dying and was the pioneer for bringing such a taboo subject out of the closet (or the toilet as she very clearly calls it).
It was through her work that the Hospice movement really got off the ground where people could die in dignity.
I have met Elisabeth K?bler-Ross three times, one of which was where I attended one of her "Life, Death and Transition Workshops" in London.
It was a five day event and as she said, when you come to one of my workshops, like most people you will give a good intellectual answer as to why you came. Maybe to be a better Nurse, Doctor, Socialworker, better human being etc. etc. but after the five days you will REALLY know why you are there. I can definitely say it was an absolutely life changing experience for me.
I introduced to the students "the five stages of grief" and "the five positive emotions" their repressed counterpart and the behavioural characteristics for example. The students got to learn new vocabulary and got some valuable material which they can use in their work and own life.
Other subjects which I introduced were "the 4 blood group personalities" by the American Dr. Peter D?Adamo, "the four (4) temperament personalities" by Hippocrates (Choleric, Sanguin, Melancholic & Phlegmatic) and even used the "Worlds Smallest Political Quiz" from the Libertarian Political Party in the USA.
It gives one a guide to one?s own political orientation through answering the 10 major questions which are the basis of a political parties founding manifesto.
If you wish to check up on the subjects you can click on the following Websites - and also do the Political Quiz which is based on five personal and five economic questions :

www.theadvocates.org - World?s Smallest Political Quiz

www.elisabethkublerross.com - Life story, books written, everything - in 7 languages.

www.advisorteam.org/the_four-temperaments/
www.personalitypage.com/four-temps.html
www.ptypes.com/temperaments.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_humours

www.dadamo.com - The 4 Blood Groups - O,A,B,AB .

For all you readers out there - the O blood group have a big problem trying to be vegetarians because it?s not suited to their constitution. I?m in the "O" group.
The A, B, & AB blood groups have absolutely no problems with vegetarianism.
I could tell you a great personal story about this.
Maybe in the Cross-Cultural / Diversity Forum.

I also introduced "the 9 Enneagram Personalities" too, but using a wonderful and humourous classification
from the "Simplify Your Life" man & wife team Werner "Tiki" & Marion K?stenmacher.

As far as the everyday English learning is concerned I have used the famous "English Grammar in Use" by Raymond Murphy and what I find to be very simple exercises from a publication in the Mentor series here in Germany. The book is particularly good for beginners but also intermediates because everything is explained as with Murphy?s followed by self-test written exercises. No only that but everything you need to know about a Verb Tense for instance or Adjective comparisons, Adverb types and uses etc. are all in there.
Finally the students have either been given an LCCI Test or my own English for Medical and Caring Professions Test to finish off the semester.
That?s sounds a lot I suppose, but I have received a good response from most of the students.
They all liked the cultural subjects of-course.

Check out - www.simplify.de - maybe join the newsletter.
You may be familiar with the book.
The Enneagram Websites are fantastic and there are quite a lot.
I think a good start would be - www.enneagraminstitute.com/

So, I think that?s about it for now Torsten.
There is a lot of information there and I hope it stimulates our worldwide audience to join in.
I think most of the themes will fit nicely into our Cross-Cultural / Diversity Forum and I will be glad to answer any questions from our readers and expand on any of them there.
Actually it may well be a good idea to start here in this Forum and when I have to go into alot of detail, we can then agree to transfer to the Cross-Cultural / Diversity Forum then.
What do think Torsten? .. and what do YOU our international audience think?
I?m sure I may have opened up some questions or created some curiosity out there.
Speak soon, Bruce.
_________________
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[Torsten]

Hi Bruce,

I'm always impressed by the scope of your interests and talents -- you seem to possess a never ending amount of energy. You've made a lot of excellent proposals and I look forward to working with you again. For example, your students might be interested in these medical vocabulary tests, they can use these interactive exercises to practice and improve your medical English. In addition, we could create more specific word lists or glossaries that include the medical professions you mentioned in your post.

What do you think?
Talk to you soon,
Torsten

PS: Today I'm at the "IHK Akademie" in Bayreuth.

TOEFL listening discussions: How many chemicals are required for the girl's experiment?

[Bruce]

Hi Torsten,

I checked out the Medical Vocabulary Tests.
Yes, they are good. I did the first three tests for a quick check and got all the answers right.
A pat on the back for me.
The semester has now closed but I shall be teaching the same students and some new ones beginning around November. I have actually already introduced - www.english-test.net - to some of my students, but only the absolute beginners.
In November I?ll get some of my advanced into the computer room for a stint.
They will certainly enjoy the tests. Although the beginners should also get some benefit.
I also referred the beginners to another German / English Website just to keep them happy.
You probably know it already - www.englisch-hilfen.de .

I don?t know how long I?ll be around this area but as from November it will be part-time work anyway, so I hope to be able to do more interpreter work and give some time to other projects we?ve spoken about.
Tomorrow I?m off to Switzerland for the weekend. It?s a Yoga, Meditation Seminar.
I?ll be back writing again on Monday.

Good luck at the Chamber of Commerce in Bayreuth.
Speak soon, Bruce.

P.S. If you like Psychological and Personality Tests, check out the Website : www.tickle.com - that also goes for our Forum Members of course.
I think it?s great because I?m a bit of a test junkie, but if you do every single test on the site, that will be the finest profile about every aspect of your personality you have ever known.
Which is a tremendous information data collection for anyone who wants to use it.
I?m not too happy about people collecting so much data about me so I?ve only done a few of what I consider the most important.
They are indeed good for self awareness and could also be used in your CV - Resum? - Personal Record when applying for a job. I would certainly use mine.
I recommend the I.Q. test and Rorschach test in any case.
I think ... C.V., Resum?, Personal Record ... is a good name to start a new Topic. I?m often asked questions about style and formats in GB, USA & Australia which are quite different from the traditional "gravestone" (GB) or "tombstone" (USA) style which we have all written and of which no employer has any great joy in reading.
_________________
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